The F1 2014 thread

[EauRouge]

Since the last one was about last season, here's a shiny new one! I haven't even seen quali yet, I've been so busy today Who's getting up in the middle of the night?

Sorry have only just seen your reply about the grid girls, happy to help with a twitter campaign! Could always make a spoof grid girl account to make the point with humour. It's true that there are more women in f1 but they would do a lot better on the image of f1 if they ditched the grid girls.

We need a hashtag or something. There's a no more podium girls account but I think that's focussed on cycling.

Anyone else going to be watching Formula E this weekend?

Wow, did you see that FE race? Heidfeld's probably in his motorhome right now getting some fresh underwear and a large Scotch. Glad he's OK, not sure what the hell Prost thought he was doing.

It was a bit weird watching a race with Prost, Senna, and Piquet racing

Prost has finally admitted it was his fault, after briefly trying to blame Heidfeld I wonder how much the tickets will be for the final race in London next June...

Silly season is hotting up, apparently the Italian press is awash with rumours of a Vettel/Alonso swap, which would leave McLaren peed off since they are meant to be after either one of them. Not sure I can see Vettel leaving RB really, but then I said the same about Hamilton leaving McLaren and I was wrong then.

Also there's been more clarification about the radio ban, including teams being told that they can't use coded messages.... how will the stewards know?

Has everyone seen this?

I only saw a little of the FE race, I thought the same thing about those names . I have to admit as well it was a bit weird seeing them change cars! Looks like it could turn into a great sport though, I'll aim to keep up with it.

I'm not sure about Vettel, he doesn't seem to be as settled at RB this season, and I don't think think he likes coming behind Ricciardo!

Great pic . Isn't the idea of a coded message that it's in, er, code!?

They'll have to employ some sort of code crackers or something, I suppose. And then the teams will employ coding experts. Eventually Dan Brown will probably write a book about it.

Well coded messages would certainly make the snippets of team radio we get to hear a lot more interesting! Even now I can just imagine Lewis saying something like "the snow is deep at Innsbruck this year"

It'll be a hell of a lot better than "it's Hamiltime" anyway

Gossip roundup. I can well see the 8 teams/3 cars thing actually. It's so expensive now, new teams just don't have the money to jump in and be competitive.

Did anyone see that doc on BBC4 the other night called Grand Prix: The Killer Years? It was a repeat. I'd seen it before but I rewatched it with DH. It's shocking how many drivers were killed back then. I can't watch that clip of David Purley trying to save Roger Williamson without a massive lump in my throat. So glad things are safer for everyone involved now. It's here on iPlayer if anyone missed it.

New championship leader, then. Poor old Nico. I hope the championship is decided by drivers, not by cars going wrong.

Suzuka next, one of my favourites and it's on the BBC.

Silly season still going, Seb is refusing to say whether he's staying at RB next season or going to Ferrari.

Unfortunately I only caught the second half of the BBC highlights, but a great result for Lewis! I feel for Nico, though he's had better reliability overall this season than Lewis.

I think it's going to be an ongoing problem for all of the teams given how complex the cars are now, and how dependent on electronics. Toto has said he doesn't want races decided by reliability issues. And with five races still to go it's all up for grabs!

I think Seb has had a disappointing season, and clearly isn't comfortable coming behind Daniel so much. Really looking forward to Suzuka :)

I can't bring myself to be happy for Lewis but the championship battle looks like it should go right up until the end, which is ace.

Blimey, Ive just watched 'Grand Prix: The Killer Years' on iPlayer (thanks for recommending it EauRouge, I don't watch much TV so often miss things). I knew some of it but it really brings it home how dangerous the sport was. Jackie Stewart (who I know did a lot of work to promote safety) said that Roger Williamson's death was a turning point, but I think it stayed quite dangerous for a long time after.

Seeing some of the crashes that drivers walk away from now really brings it home how much F1 has changed. I do think the death of Ayrton encouraged a lot of the more recent safety regulations.

Yes, I think Senna's death was a huge turning point too. It's amazing the crashes they can have now and just walk away. Remember Kubica's one in Canada 2007? I thought he was dead for sure. But not a scratch.

It's safer for the marshals too, I don't think there's been a marshal death caused by racing for about 15 years or so, since that fella got hit by a loose wheel (in Aus maybe?). But I'm not counting that poor bloke in Canada that tripped and fell in front of a crane.

Amazing, the accusations about coded radio messages have started.

I was really struck in the programme that not only race marshals but also spectators were so at risk. And I couldn't believe it that the drivers' association were having to donate unwanted fireproof suits to the marshals! Even in the eighties though it wasn't uncommon to see a car catch fire after a crash, the regulations about the cars themselves have really improved things too.

Good possibilities for 'coded radio message bingo' while watching a race . I can understand what the FIA are trying to do, but have to wonder how enforceable it will be in practice, especially given their track record on being consistent!

Interesting that the Brabham name may make a comeback.

Well, team orders never really stopped despite the ban. It was only Rob Smedley's deliberately shit coded message that blew it all out into the open again. So I don't see how this coded message ban will work.

I would love to see Brabham make a comeback. Not sure how realistic the chances are now with such massive budgets though.

Well that was always the way, I think a few people over the years have underestimated the costs involved in F1 (Lord Hesketh for example). Would really love to see Brabham come back though.

I can't see the coded message ban working either. I think there'll be a few penalties before they give up. Rob Smedley might be a great race engineer, but perhaps he might think twice before looking at a career in acting!

I still think he did it on purpose because he was pissed off at having to give team orders

Good point, he definitely sounded unhappy!

Though possibly not as unhappy as Filipe!

That's true I don't think it should be up to the engineer to deliver team orders (legal or otherwise), it should be the team principal or sporting director or whoever.

Yes, definitely should be someone in senior management. The race engineers and drivers have a really close working relationship and it's not fair on either of them.

Wasn't there a race (might have been Spa a couple of years ago) where Rob was calling him 'Filipe baby' on the radio?

Yep